


Is It Raining With You

by c00kie



Series: Between Here and There [7]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe, Cliffhangers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Plot Twists, Potentially Upsetting Content, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 00:09:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10477668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: Leslie and Ben think about the future but there are surprises.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HI! So this is where things go off course from the original fic, Things We Said Between Here and There. If you can't write an AU of your AU then what's the point?  
> Thanks goes to Ash and Nicole, who pushed me to in this direction. They are the best.  
> And as always, your support means everything to me. Thank you.

It feels like it’s been constantly raining. Night after night Leslie listens to the rain fall off the roof, watching as it travels down her windows. In the bedroom next to hers, she hears her brother snore even as the house occasionally rattles from thunder.

Leslie’s door creaks open and she hears a voice. “Les?”

“Hey,” she whispers back. “Come in.”

Ben shuts the door behind him and she makes room for him in her bed. He gets in and snuggles up next to him. His body is firm and warm and smells like water and soap.

She gives his neck a kiss as lightning illuminates the trees outside.

“I’m trying to sleep,” she tells him. “Really.”

She means it too. It’s not just the rain keeping her up, but everything. School, graduation, prom, where she’s going to go to college, how all those decisions will affect her relationship with Ben, what Andy’s going to say when he finds out. It’s all too much and it’s all keeping her up at night.

“I know,” Ben says, moving her hair from her shoulders. “I can’t sleep either.”

Leslie nods in the darkness. She knows why Ben can’t sleep.

“Chicago isn’t that far.”

She can’t see his face, but knows he’s making the Leslie don’t be crazy expression. “Les.”

“It’s not and it’s a big opportunity for you and I think you should take it. I know you can go to Indiana, but the University of Chicago is better and you’ll have more opportunities there.”

“You keep using that word.”

“I just think you deserve the world is all.”

"Aww," he says, giving her another kiss. "And here I was thinking you were trying to get rid of me."

"Never. Don't make me quote Rick Astley, mister."

Ben chuckles and soon his fingers find their way in her hair as he kisses her. She moves again, this time rolling over onto her back. The kissing increases, as does her need to feel his skin against hers.

It doesn’t take long for them to remove all their clothing. They speak in hushed tones until there’s nothing left to say except, “I love you.”

After that they don’t speak at all.

-

Ben sneaks out just before morning. The rain has stopped, but Leslie wonders for how long as the forecast says stormy skies until the end of the week.

Leslie thinks about Ben's letter of admittance to the University of Chicago. She thinks about how his advisor pushed him to apply. She pictures him walking around in the city, dressed in slacks and a sweater vest over one of his beloved plaid shirts and a tie. He stops for a cup of coffee and meets a beautiful woman and forgets all about her.

Okay, so maybe Leslie lied when she said she wants Ben to go.

She then thinks about him going to Indiana with her. (If that's where she decides to go). He's surrounded by the same people he's always known. The same professors. They stay together but his future is a desk underneath fluorescent lights in a boring accounting office. Ben resents her. He walks into a coffee shop and meets a beautiful woman.

-

"I think I see the sun out," Marlene says over breakfast. "What your plans for the day?"

"I'm going to Burley's to rehearse before tonight's gig," Andy answers, mouth full of Froot Loops. "You wanna come?"

Ben shakes his head. "Nah. I still have work to do on my project. But I promise I'll be at the show tonight."

"Cool, dude."

"You're coming right?"

Leslie looks up from her copy of "Wuthering Heights." "To Burleys'?"

"No, goof, to the show tonight. It's eighteen and over."

"Oh, right." Sometimes Leslie forgets she's eighteen now. She can vote. She can buy cigarettes. She can see Mouse Rat play provided she wears a bracelet on her hand so no one serves her alcohol. "Of course!"

"Cool," he says as he gets up to throw his bowl in the sink.

"I'm coming too," Marlene announces.

There's a silence that falls over the room before Andy slowly says, "To Burley's?"

"To your show."

"Uh mom-"

"It's non negotiable, sweetheart. I am your mother and I want to support my children. Besides, you're acting like this is the first time I've seen you play."

"Okay." Andy blushes, ducking his head down so Marlene can kiss his cheek.

"Okay," Marlene repeats. "Now I've got to go get ready for work. Don't forget you have a doctor's appointment at three, Leslie."

And as soon as Leslie says, "I won't," Marlene is gone.

Andy's the next to leave. Leslie slowly finishes her breakfast while Ben reads the news on his iPad.

"China's going to sign the treaty."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

Ben feels far away and not just because he's sitting on the opposite end of the island. Maybe that's another con to him going to Chicago. At first they would be fine. She'd visit him, he'd visit her, they would skype every night.

But then they would both get too busy. He would have to work late. She would have to study for tests.

They would see each other less and less.

Ben would walk into a coffee shop. He would meet a beautiful woman.

He throws his food in the trash, washes off his plate and Andy's bowl and then comes and sits next to her, giving her shoulder a kiss. "You're making pros and cons lists in your mind aren't you?"

"It's what I do."

"Yeah, I know," he says with a soft smile. "You wanna tell me what this one is for?"

"You," Leslie answers. "Us. I keep thinking about all the different scenarios of you going to Chicago or staying in Indiana and they all end the same way."

"And how's that?"

"You walk into a coffee shop and meet a beautiful woman."

"Huh," Ben says with a downturn of his lips. "What kind of coffee?"

"Ben!"

"No, really. In this crazy future of yours where I meet someone else and forget you, how is the coffee? Is it a dark roast? Kona? Is it like the stuff my dad makes which is so thick you could substitute it for tar?"

Leslie laughs despite herself. "It's probably okay."

"Hmm. I'm not sure I want to risk losing you over just okay coffee. Doesn't seem worth it."

"Well, I guess when you put it like that-"

Ben takes her hands into his. "Look. Whether I decide to go to Chicago or stay at Indiana, my future is the same. It's you."

He wipes the tears off her cheek with his thumb and she nods. He gives her a quick kiss, too quick because there are footsteps coming down the stairs.

"I gotta go to my house to do this thing. But I'll see you tonight, right?"

"Right."

Another kiss and he's gone.

-

Leslie's glad she has school to distract her. When she answers a question in class, she isn't thinking about college or where Ben will go to grad school or how Andy is going to react. She's only thinking about how much she would like to punch Heathcliff in the face.

By the time lunch comes, she still can't eat. She picks at her lunch, the one she made herself the night before like she's done since first grade.

"What's wrong?" Ann asks.

"Nothing. I just feel off. " She's sure it's just stress manifesting itself into a stomach ache.

-

"Well," Marlene says as Leslie stares at Dr. Harris, her head full of loud circus music, "That certainly puts an interesting twist on things."

"Wait," Leslie says, "I don't understand. I can't be pregnant. I'm on the pill."

"They're not one hundred percent effective," Dr. Harris replies.

"Yeah but-" Leslie silences herself as she meets her mom's eyes.

After, they make a follow up appointment and walk out of the building in silence. It's even silent on the way home, until Marlene makes a left turn instead of a right.

"Where are we going?"

"Dairy Queen," Marlene says. "We need to talk."

As soon as they order, Marlene starts. "I know it hasn't hit you yet. And I know you are going through a lot right now and this is just one more thing to add to your list. But it's going to and you need to be ready when it does."

"Oh. Okay. So what do I do?"

"Well, I think the first thing you should do figure out where you want to go to college. Then, decide if you want to have a baby now. I didn't wait to have Andy and while I love him and never regretted my decision, a part of me wonders what would have happened had I waited."

"You would probably be President."

"Probably." Marlene laughs, stealing the cherry off of Leslie's sundae. "Whatever you decide, I'm going to support you. But whatever you decide, I do think it's past time you and Ben came clean to your brother."

Everything her mom says etches itself into Leslie's mind. The moment they get home, Leslie runs up to her room and opens an empty binder. Then she writes yet another pros and cons list.

She debates calling Ben, but this isn't a conversation she wants to have on the phone. And she doesn't want to distract him from his studies.

She just wishes he was there to tell her everything is going to be okay.

The rain starts again. She opens her window and breathes it in. This time it soothes her. Usually not one for a nap- not when there's so much to do- Leslie feels pulled toward her bed.

It's almost six when she wakes up. Leslie jumps up, almost ashamed she slept for so long. Andy's show isn't until eight, but there's so much to do. There's her chores and homework and she has to rehearse what she'll say to Ben and they have to plan how they're going to tell Andy.

If she has a baby, Ben won't be able to go to Chicago. He won't want to. Instead he'll marry her out of obligation, take a low level accounting job and then over time he'll hate his life so much he will hate her and their child.

He will leave them and soon find himself in a coffee shop that has amazing coffee and he will meet a beautiful woman.

When Leslie considers her own goals and how a baby might affect them, never once does she think they will keep her from achieving her dreams. She can still go to school and have a kid. Her mom did it.

And maybe that's her answer.

Except for the part where she doesn't have a job and children are expensive.

Ben's already at the bar when Leslie and Marlene show up. He waves from the table he's saved and Leslie's surprised to see a glass of red wine and a Shirley Temple waiting already. He has a beer and there's a plate of fries.

"Thank you, Ben."

"You're welcome."

"Thank you," Leslie says, giving Ben a quick kiss on his cheek while Andy isn't looking. When he does, Leslie waves.

Ben holds her hand under the table during the show. During a five minute intermission, Marlene excuses herself to use the bathroom.

"I have to tell you something."

"Yeah?" Ben asks, "What's that?"

"Hey guys!" Andy throws his arm around them. "We're kicking ass tonight."

Leslie grins despite Andy's sweaty embrace. "Mom knows all the words to "Sex Hair.""

"What?" Andy asks, looking sick. "Damn it."

He shakes his head and walks back toward the stage. Soon Marlene is back, this time with another glass of red wine, a beer for Ben and another Shirley Temple for Leslie.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Ben asks.

Leslie opens her mouth to answer, but it soon becomes too loud even to shout. And she definitely doesn't want to shout I'm pregnant in a bar. "Later," she says, taking his hand again.

When Andy announces an encore, Marlene sighs and says, "I have an early meeting. You'll drive Leslie home?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay. Be careful.See you at home sweetheart." Marlene kisses Leslie's head. "Good luck."

Later, Ben drives Leslie home. It's raining heavily, Ben's windshield wipers going at full speed but it doesn't seem like enough. The radio is turned down, all she can hear is the wind and the tapping of the rain on the roof.

"So, I decided."

Leslie takes a deep breath and exhales. Her grip on the seat tightens. "Already?"

"Yeah. Well dad called today and I kind of had to tell him something."

"Right."

"I just, I realized you're right. The University of Chicago is a great school and I'm going to meet new people and it's an amazing opportunity. And it's not that far."

"It really isn't," Leslie agrees.

"What about you, what's your news?"

"I decided to go to Indiana." She'll tell Ben about the baby, but not right now.

"That's great," Ben says. "You'll love it there."

He looks away from the road for just a second. But by the time Ben sees the headlights coming from the other direction, it's too late.

The car spins and then everything goes black.


End file.
